


About a Girl

by HerbertBest



Category: Game Grumps
Genre: Babies, Crying, Declarations Of Love, Emotional, Families of Choice, Family Fluff, Fluff, Humor, Multi, New Parents, Newborn Children, Parenthood, Slice of Life, Watching Football
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-07
Updated: 2017-05-07
Packaged: 2018-10-29 02:27:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,313
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10844586
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HerbertBest/pseuds/HerbertBest
Summary: Dan adjusts to parenthood.





	About a Girl

**Author's Note:**

  * For [TheseusInTheMaze](https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheseusInTheMaze/gifts).



> This is part of Theseusinthemaze's Plausible Deniability universe, and is specifically a missing scene from [Wrens and Fireflies,](http://archiveofourown.org/works/10618977) which takes place after Wren's birth. Collection forthcoming!

Everything was a blur, in hindsight.

He remembered watching Holly nurse the baby, and taking pictures for posterity of himself with Wren in a bedside chair (and coming out of his daze to realize, to his horror, that he’d captioned them on his Instagram with the title ‘I’m someone’s fucking dad’). Ross walked the baby back to the nursery and Holly back to her room while Dan, Arin and Suzy went to tell his folks the news.

The joy. He remembered the smell of his grandma’s perfume, the feeling of his mother’s kiss upon his forehead, Avi slapping his shoulder and Dana poking his ribs. Even Ross’ folks and sister had been there to offer congratulations. 

He noticed, with a bittersweet tug of his heartstrings, that there was no one there for Holly. 

Ross popped into the waiting room to pass around chocolate cigars, and Brian shoved his camera playfully into the midst of the crowd – Dan only realized how hungry he was when he devoured three more chocolate cigars from the box without pausing. It was his mom’s idea that they head across the street and have a big dinner – everyone but Ross, who wanted to stay behind and hang out with Holly for awhile. (“You’ve been hogging our wife for a month,” he pointed out, and Dan blushed.)

There was too much wine and too much sushi at dinner, and Dan bought saki for everyone in the place in a spurt of intense happiness. His mother fed him by hand, ignoring his protests, until he was full. Then Arin piled everyone but Dan into his car and drove them back to the EconoLodge, leaving Dan to walk back to the hospital.

He made a quick stop at the gift shop – bought Holly a box of chocolates and a stuffed bluebird – before heading upstairs and back to the room where he’d waited for so many hours for his daughter to arrive. 

The room was dimly lit, but the first person he noticed was clearly visible, her sleepy head a cloud of pale brown, propped comfortably up on about a dozen pillows.

Dan placed his gifts aside, rushed to kiss his wife, and pecked her face with kisses until she sleepily patted his hand.

“Are you okay?”

“Mph,” she yawned. “I just ate, and fed her – Ross ate. We watched Discovery for awhile.” 

Dan kissed her forehead, watching her fade in and out – he felt guilty about keeping her awake for too long. “Okay, pigeon. Go back to sleep. I love you.” 

Holly nodded, mushing her face back into the pillow, and Dan’s heart did a giddy spin. God, he loved her – even like this, even half-awake and drooling, aching from having delivered a baby. He was overwhelmed with gratitude. He’d never be able to thank her enough. 

“How did you fall even more in love with her? It’s almost gross.”

Dan snorted, turning in Ross’ direction – he was in an easy chair under the high-bolted television set, and in his arms was a squirmy pink bundle of blanket. “Shut the fuck up, dude!”

But he crossed the room and kissed Ross, nervously peering down at the bundle, which Ross offered up to him.

“They said we can keep her until visiting hours are over,” Ross said. “Holly has to feed her at midnight anyway. So,” he gently placed Wren in Dan’s arms and got up to leave, “I’m going home to take a shower.”

“Wait, you’re gonna leave me alone with her?” Dan asked, as Ross headed toward the front door. “Alone-alone!?”

“It was gonna happen sometime,” Ross said happily. “At least there’ll be nurses nearby if you drop her…”

“ROSS!”

“Night, little one,” he said, and pressed a kiss to Wren’s forehead, earning him a complainy noise from the baby before bouncing away.

Dan glanced down at the pink bundle, peeling the layers of cloth back from he face so he could see her properly. Carefully, he sat down, his eyes glued on Wren’s face.

He couldn’t stop himself from noticing their sames – his cheekbones, the shape of his face, his own wider nose on her little face, and his sleepy eyes and long eyelashes. Holly’s chin. Holly’s ears. Her mouth. And, peeking out of the sides of her knitted pink bird-spangled cap, red-brown curls.

The nurses had teased him about that. They knew who her daddy was, because of that hair.

Something in Dan’s heart just burst open, making way, caring pouring from the very center of his soul to ennoble this beautiful child. He was crying, suddenly, gasping sobs, expelling all the stress, guilt, and fear of the past few months.

But that crying sent Wren off, and her agitated sounds just made him cry more.

“Noo Wren, no sweetie, shhh,” he whispered, pulling her close to his body. Her restlessness made him tuck her against the gap between his plaid shirt and his chest. The querulous noises stopped, and she snuggled against his body, against the beating of his heart. 

More relief flooded Dan. His daughter _liked_ him. Rubbing her back, rocking her gently, he started humming –snatches of old lullabies Avi had sung him, old story-songs his grandmother knew.

A few minutes passed and the noises turned softer, sounding almost curious. She was looking up at him, her expression somewhat confused. He knew the feeling.

“Hi, baby. Hi, baby girl,” he said. “Want to watch some sports ball with daddy?”

Well, he couldn’t make her ‘I’m sorry’ pancakes. Not yet.

 

 

*** 

 

“…And that’s Rhett Ellison. He’s a fullback. See what he’s doing?” Wren let out a sound of peaceful confusion. “That’s right! He’s blocking!” He kissed Wren’s nose. “See? I knew you’d get it.”

Dan had been watching the Giants game with his daughter tight in his arms for a couple of hours. Wren had mostly slept, though she seemed to recognize his voice and took in his news with great astonishment. Her little fist was curled around his thumb and he stared whispering to her about how he wanted to see her out there tackling and running with the best too.

“I love you.”

Dan looked up to see Holly watching them both from the bed.

“Hi, pidge. Are you up?”

Holly nodded, holding out her arms, and Dan got up from the chair, carefully transferring the baby to her grip. She continued, “I know I don’t say it enough, I know it scares me so much sometimes, but I love you. Every bit of you.” He kissed her soft lips and each eyelid before watching as she pulled out a breast and offered it to their daughter.

“I adore you, but I think you know that,” Dan said.

There was a certain primitive satisfaction Dan felt in watching them together. This was his family, his hearth and home. If Ross and Arin were here it would've been perfect, but being close to Holly would always be different from staying with them, a step or two away from a self-made paradise.

It was family.

 _HE_ was her family now.

Suddenly, the idea popped into his brain. “I’m going to go to the bathroom for a sec, Pidge,” he whispered, kissing her forehead. 

“Be sure to wash your hands,” she murmured.

Dan headed out to the hallway, and thanks to a quick text to Ross, pulled up the number for Holly’s grandfather’s home. He clicked his phone onto video chat, got in touch with his provider, and caught him just before he was going to bed.

“Pappy? It’s Dan. Yes, the other one.” He was relieved that the man remembered that much still. “I have some good news for you.” Dan grinned. “It’s Holly. She’s doing just fine. In fact, your nurse said it's cool for you to come by and see her. Oh, I'd be happy to. Yeah, the baby’s here. 

What is it? It’s a girl.”


End file.
